Mother Nature is credited this morning with hastening the homecoming of 130 U.S. Marine reservists recently returned from Iraq.
Members of the North Versailles-based Military Police Company B, 4th Force Service Support Group, were slated to leave Camp Lejeune, N.C., by bus Tuesday night for the 10- to 12-hour ride to Allegheny County, said Maj. Eric Rose, unit spokesman.
The reservists, who returned stateside Saturday, originally weren't scheduled to arrive back in Pennsylvania until next week, Rose said. Hurricane Isabel prompted higher-ups to ship the Marines out earlier, he said.
Camp Lejeune is located on North Carolina's east coast, near Jacksonville. The area is under a hurricane watch and could experience Isabel's effects as early as late today according to the National Hurricane Center.
Barring any delays, the Marine reservists are expected to arrive at 10 a.m. today at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center on East Pittsburgh Street and McKeesport Boulevard. Most will meet up there with their families for the first time since being called to active duty in January.
Cheryl Pegg, of Clawson Avenue, Hempfield Township, and her husband, Terry, will be there to welcome their son, Lance Cpl. Jeromy Pegg.
Jeromy Pegg phoned his mother at 10:30 a.m. yesterday to tell her of today's homecoming.
Cheryl Pegg was skeptical.
"I asked him if it was in stone and he said yes," Cheryl Pegg said. "We've heard so many stories."
Several earlier reports that the unit was to return all proved false, Cheryl Pegg said. She realized the Marines meant business this time when, a few minutes after taking Jeromy's call, a sergeant from the North Versailles unit phoned her to confirm the plans.
By noon, Cheryl Pegg had relayed the good news to family and friends. By 1 p.m., she had left her job at Westmoreland Manor early.
"I figured I won't be any good there," Cheryl Pegg said yesterday afternoon. "I'm excited."
Jeromy Pegg's brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Sarah Bitner, of Connellsville, also will be at the reserve center. Cheryl Pegg said a low-key homecoming celebration will follow.
"He said he just wants to come home and have some quiet time," Cheryl Pegg said. "We told him we'll plan (a party) when he's ready."
The unit was based in Kuwait and Iraq during its six-month deployment, Rose said.
The reservists' primary mission was to provide security and process prisoners of war, but they also took part in several battles.
For one three-day period, the unit served as the lead combat element for the entire Marine Corps at the war's start, Rose said.
At other times, the unit came under small-arms fire. On one occasion, they endured a four-hour-long mortar attack.
The reservists protected U.S. Army convoys headed to Baghdad and Tikrit, and processed 1,500 prisoners of war, Rose said. Among those prisoners were at least one high-ranking Baathist party official and an Iraqi general.
"They were in the thick of things," Rose said. "We are very thankful there were no fatalities."
Some of the reservists suffered minor injuries, but all were treated and returned to their unit, he said.
Today's homecoming reception will include a police escort along Route 30 from the turnpike's Irwin interchange to the unit's base in North Versailles. A high school band will perform and doughnuts will be handed out, but the returning reservists won't be asked to make a day of it.
"It will be a big event, but we're going to make it as short and sweet as possible," Rose said.
